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On the cultural relevance of 1992…

Check out these ‘old skool rave videos’ from the late 80′s and the 90′s as well as these video archives. There’s some goodies in there from some of the decade’s biggest parties as well as old Burning Man footage. It’s pretty incredible how dance music has changed so much over the course of a couple decades while the events essentially haven’t strayed much from the basic format:

Gather thousands,

Turn on music,

Fully bliss out.

Righteous.

What do you feel has changed about the culture and events over the years? What has remained the same? What has this done to the scene?

14 Responses to On the cultural relevance of 1992…

Out here in the NY / Boston area, the biggest changes from mid to late 90s raves and today is 2fold: much less people going to parties, and the dancers! Where are the dancers? People don't dance no more, or if they do, they ain't that good. Anybody remember putting talcum powder on the floor in the dance circles to get rid of sticky/slimy floors from all the moisture of hundreds of dancers? The incredible breakers? The biggest party in CT in a good 6 to 8 years happened last summer, and it wasn't close to what we used to see, and I didn't see one breaker or even a packed dance floor. One thing remains though, cops broke up the party.

Love the videos. Wish I had been old enough to party around that era.. Here in Chicago, the biggest problem seems to be that the scene is all about promoting drink specials and free this/that.. not about promoting real talent, unique ideas, or FUN. More people will end up at some shitty, generic loft party with crap DJ's because of cheap liquor than anything else. It's a drag. :/

The difference is…..this shit is happening right here in California. the stars aligned and that electronica big bang merely happened 10 years later tban it was first predicted to.

just like rock music paired so brilliantly with the live format via large festival, this new craziness does the same. except now it's a digital world. the possibilities are endless. the deadmau5 cube at coachella? only the beginning. Imagine Coachella in twenty years. it'll fucking take place in space.

The biggest change for is that the bigger arena "raves" are flooded with underage children. At least here in the Bay Area, Spookfest, Lovefest, and the upcoming ETD Pop are filled with horny teens more focused on hooking up with other horny teens instead of vibing to the pounding music.

Raves now have become socially accepted far more now because they are being so commercially organized with official sponsors and everything needed to make it look more like a music festival and not a rave. Moreover, the festivals like EDC and the likes are a huge revenue for cities and the companies involved within them, that even though LAPD knows thousands of people in line to get into these fests are going to take drugs, they dont have the power to shut any of it down because they offer too much in return (revenue, jobs, sponsorship, media/press/marketing outlets = more and more $$$$). We live in an epic time for electronic music, and even though raves attract those into the rave social scene, I'm happy that people like me and others that go for the talent performing can see an array of great emerging artists. Electronic music as a whole has become virtually the dominant genre of music right now in the world, namely because you can see the transcendence in hip hop and rock incorporating the electronic sound to their styles. I'm just so fucking stoked that it is becoming more than just a trend, but also a movement that still has an underground driving force and is not the pop watered down bull we see on the television set.

we have a new club here in Eugene, OR that exclusively features electronic music. now i can finally get decently paid in this college town to mix electronic tracks rather than sneaking them into top 40. EFF YEA!!!